Years ago, I owned a book--I think it was simply called "Crafts for Kids" and put out by Sunset Magazine--that showed how to make homemade reusable wrapping paper using aluminum foil and scraps of tissue paper. You simply mixed together a paste and used a paintbrush to plaster the colored tissue scraps randomly all over the foil. The result was shiny and colorful gift paper!

I'm not too crafty, so I'm wondering what to use as the paste. Mod podge, maybe? Starch? I remember that it called for a mixture, but I don't know what!

I make homemade wrapping paper from magazine & catalog photography. I get old issues of magazines printed on good paper like Martha Stewart & Real Simple, and catalogs like Bergdorf Goodman, Pottery Barn, and Anthropologie from coworkers/the recycle bin at work, or by requesting them on Freecycle & Craigslist.

I tear out full-page photos of fashion/nature/home/food photography (nothing with words or advertising) and group them either by color or by item--mainly green-hued pages together, or all food pics together, etc--then use rubber cement to paste the pages together.

Sometimes I make a bunch of wrapping paper in advance and keep it secured around an old wrapping paper tube with a hair elastic; sometimes I make it on an as-needed basis from stacks of pages that I have torn out and put into folders based on color or object.

Other bonus: as I'm going through tearing up the magazines, I also pull out recipes or other ideas to try and stash them in binders for recipe ideas and projects around the house.